By Rosalie Rayburn Journal Staff Writer
A new clinic slated to open next year will give local veterans im]proved access to health care.
Rio Rancho will be the site for one of 44 new Veterans Administration clinics scheduled to be opened nationwide, according to a news release issued Thursday by Secretary of Veterans Affairs James Peake.
The news release said the Veterans Administration over the next few months will determine the exact location, staffing and services to be offered by the Rio Rancho clinic.
Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., and Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., hailed the news, saying it would bring health services closer to veterans who need them.
“There is an ongoing and growing demand for care among veterans, including those who served in past conflicts and our newest veterans from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Domenici said in a statement e-mailed to the Journal.
Domenici’s e-mail said the clinic is expected to open in the summer of 2009.
“This new facility will help make care more accessible for the thousands of veterans who live in Sandoval County and the surrounding areas,” Wilson said in a statement e-mailed to the Journal on Thursday.
Marla Griffith, president of the Rio Rancho Chapter of the Blue Star Mothers of America, an organization that supports the military, veterans and their families, said the clinic would help meet a big demand for services in the Rio Rancho and surrounding area.
“I think this is an absolutely wonderful thing for Rio Rancho and all the military families in our area,” Griffith said in a phone interview.
The VA determines where to open new clinics based on the distance veterans have to travel to their local hospital or clinic, local demand and the existing local hospital workload, said Floyd Vasquez, public affairs specialist for the New Mexico VA Health Care system.
Vasquez said the Raymond G. Murphy VA Medical Center in Albuquerque is the only VA hospital in New Mexico.
The New Mexico VA system currently operates community-based outpatient clinics in 10 other cities statewide and in Durango, according to its Web site.
Vasquez said the new VA clinic would not be affiliated with the Veteran and Family Support Services project opened last fall at 184 Unser in Rio Rancho.
That clinic was funded through a $570,000 appropriation from the state Legislature. It is operated by Presbyterian Medical Services, a Santa Febased nonprofit that provides medical, dental and behavioral health services statewide, mostly in rural areas.
(c) 2008 Albuquerque Journal. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
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